Moving To Washington

Moving state to state could be an exciting adventure for a single person, but it could be a challenging task for a family. My family and I have moved so much that I almost don't want to root myself in one place because a couple of years later, we'll be packing again. It wasn't so difficult when it was just my husband and I moving around, but when our son came along, everything was entirely different.

We are originally from Washington State and during the financial crash of 2008, we decided to move to California to try our luck. Our son was barely a year old so moving was pretty easy. My son and I flew while my husband drove a moving truck across the states. Six years later, we found ourselves wanting to go back to Washington State again.

The move back in 2014 was different. We didn't anticipate the interesting challenges we were about to face. To my husband and I, moving was easy. We were adventurous and we liked the change. However, our son was already six and he made good friends in our complex. He loved his school too and to him, moving to an entirely new state was a frightening experience. He neither knew anyone nor what to expect. He thought about how he was going to try all over again and how hard it was to make friends.

Furthermore, we were still facing financial difficulties and so when we started budgeting for the move, we realized that we cannot afford the big moving truck we rented years before. We started going down the list of options until we came to a conclusion that we can only do a small move.

Breaking the news to our child was not an easy one. Not only we have to explain that moving to a new state is okay but we can only bring our most prized possessions with us. As we went through our belongings in our 2-bedroom apartment, we had to make the difficult decision that we're only keeping what will fit in our 2 cars. I had to explain why we're leaving all but one of his stuffed animals, his favorite toys, and most of his artwork I have kept since Kindergarten! In the end, everything went as planned. We were able to move and had a few boxes of valuables shipped to us.

The whole experience was definitely memorable. Each of us talked about what is important to us and ultimately, we learned that it is nice to have all these things but what matters the most is our family. We also learned that yes, we will miss these things but we can always keep the memories alive in our hearts. The possessions may not be there but being with each other is more important.

Right now, our family has grown. We haven't moved so far but one thing is for sure, we will always cherish our memories of being together more than ever.